Fletcher Features

Fletcher Conversations Around the 2012 Presidential Elections

Date: October 24, 2012

The 2012 Presidential Election is upon us. Voters have heard both President Obama’s and Governor Romney’s vision for the future through months of campaigning and policy-focused debates, and it is now time to make their decisions. Fletcher faculty, students and alumni have voiced their opinions leading up to the big day. Find their op-eds and analyses below:

"In these final days of the presidential campaign, both President Obama and Governor Romney are becoming more vocal about their support for immigration reform. While there is still distance between their stances, both agree that it is important to encourage foreign entrepreneurs to come to America and launch their dreams here...But the best policy intentions are thwarted when the immigration bureaucracy slams the door in the faces of foreign business talent." Michael Klein, Professor of International Economic Affairs

“Media consumers tend to trust their friends and their friends’ friends: real people, rather than companies, organizations and channels. This raw reporting, although often non-professional, builds more credit than selected, edited, and polarized content.” – Maria Yulikova (F10)

“Over the past two years Governor Romney in repositioning himself not just as a conservative, but to use his own words as a “severe conservative,” disavowed each and every one of these positions to please the Republican base.” – David W. Wise (F82)

“In presidential politics, candidates might win primaries by pleasing their party’s ideological base, but in general elections, they target the moderates, because those are the voters decide the election.” – Daniel Drezner, Professor of International Politics.

“On major security issues in the Middle East, the policies of a second Obama term or Romney’s first would be quite similar, just as Obama’s first four years were more consistent with the second Bush administration than expected.” – Zack Gold (F09)

“[Obama’s] always been supportive of taking more action, but he's never felt there's enough a political consensus. Because of Sandy, there might be more wind at his back." - Prof. Kelly Sims Gallagher